SimCity: a day in a working city

SimCity, sadly, hasn’t launched well in the US due to server issues. Across the pond however, we’re all playing it happily. VG247’s Sam Clay spends a day in the city.

Ironically, being British, we’ve got nothing to complain about today – I’ve had a perfect experience with SimCity, it’s working just fine.

I thought I’d spend a decent few hours today getting stuck in to a new build. I’ve captured the footage and produced a sort of diary, which you can watch above.

Having played a good 5-6 hours today, it’s easy to spot what makes SimCity great. For one it’s a lot easier, at least I feel as though I’m not full out failing like I have done in previous games. In fact, I actually feel like I’m ‘winning’.

They’ve simplified the systems in a way for anyone to understand ‘what’s going wrong’. You can go through the overlaying maps to spot where you need to improve and the game tool-tips you accordingly on how to fix your problems. The only difficulty is now working out ‘what to do next’.

It’s gone from being hard to start a city to now being a nightmare to grow into a bigger space.

Once you’ve planned out even more residential areas, annoyingly people have demands – bloody people, always complaining. It’s this that causes you trouble. Micro-managing everything. You’d have to be clever to keep up with it all.

For example, thankfully I’ve been saved by a neighbouring city, otherwise my place would be ablaze right now due to the fact I’ve only have one fire engine for hours. Dangerous I know, but I was simply assuming all my sims’ ‘logistical skills’ were high enough to not cause house fires – sadly not, people have been burning their houses, and sandwiches, to the ground.

Fixing one problem then basically makes you forget what you were doing prior to unblocking the sewage systems. I should be taking notes.